Break my body

KIRSTI TAYLOR BYE

The theme of work affects our lives from birth. Our body, through weight and movement, is the first tool that allows us to perceive this condition. But around us there is a micro-universe made of plants and insects that shows a natural inclination to work, spontaneous and unstoppable. Too often we don’t consider this work, too often we don’t realize that this universe is working for us.

“This is the industry, the labour, of the artist, the city, the space, the insects and the machines. These are the signs that something has happened. This is it, this is what has happened. Inside and out, outside and in. The silk larvae eat mulberry leaves and create a cocoon around their bodies, preparing for adulthood. We boil the larvae alive in their cocoons, untangle this superfine thread, spin it into a thicker thread, and weave the thread into a shiny fabric. This is the stuff dreams are made of. The insect pollinates the flower, the flower loses its petals and from the ovary the fruit is formed. The fruit is picked, washed and digested. Sweet dreams are made of this. Even before I am aware,
my body is preparing to get out of bed. My brain is creating the electrical impulses to swing my feet out from under the blanket and onto the floor. The route of the day is already predetermined, and I live in blissful ignorance. The path in my brain and the path in the terrain can be seen as lines drawn in pencil on ordinary paper that are already there, but in a different room. The fall is what disrupts the time, the path. My body lets me know this is not what was intended, gives me a warning flag in black, blue, purple, red and green. To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub. The death of something in order for something else to become. The strips of bark from a broken branch woven into a home for homeless beetles. The mussels pried open in order for the shells to be used as hair removal devices. The lemon picked to get to the pit to suck the seed to plant it and grow a new tree. The end of an old story triggers the beginning of a new one.” (K.T.B.)

Project realized as part of the artist residency “OMNE/WORK”, Castelfranco Veneto 31st May – 11th June 2016, exhibited during OMNEFEST (Museo Casa Giorgione, 13th October – 9th December 2018) and published in the book “OMNE/WORK 2016- 2018”, Lettera Ventidue, Siracusa 2018